Last summer, my then 8-year-old daughter and I had an argument. I can?t even remember exactly what it was about, but I know I was fed up with my mini salesperson who was always trying to negotiate and had a hard time accepting no for an answer.
?You need to think of other people,? I scolded her. It was an attempt to help her recognize that she was being selfish in that moment, but I, too, was being selfish. I desperately wanted her to see my exhaustion from my relentless effort to put others first. Of course, our argument didn?t accomplish that.
Later that day, as I was filling myself with worry and wondering what I could have done to curb our raised voices and if my daughter was losing her once empathic ways, I thought of a way of turning our back-and-forth disagreements into something positive. Knowing my own coping mechanism during difficult times is taking a moment away from everything, I would design a space for Lexi to go when she needed a break. The next day, I called my Pinterest-loving Mom and my super-handy Dad to brainstorm the execution of my idea. Together, we crafted the Thinking of Others corner. They drove two hours to help me transform an area of my basement into a space with bright, bold colours, filled with everything from paint to markers, beads and decorative tape. I also displayed some of Lexi?s favourite art pieces from school. I didn?t want this to be a Bandaid, solution. Rather, it was going to be an integral part of our home and hopefully a ...